Who We Are

Learn more about St. Mary Magdalene and what it means to be Episcopalian

Photo by Scott Laurent

About Us

The mission of St. Mary Magdalene Church is to be a Real, Rooted, and Relevant community of faith in the Episcopal tradition proclaiming the Good News of Jesus in Belton and beyond.

St, Mary Magdalene started out in 2002 as a small band of dedicated Christians who met for Sunday Eucharist in the homes of various parishioners. By 2005 we had moved to McGilley’s Funeral Home on State Line Road. When McGilley’s was no longer available, we moved down State Line Road to a storefront in a nearby shopping center.

We were a small congregation but with many missions. We used every inch of space, including the worship space after the service, to carry on missions such as packing BackSnacks for the local schools.

In 2009, we took a leap of faith and conducted a capital campaign for a new building. The campaign was successful, despite its timing so close to the great recession, and we successfully raised the money to begin construction. The Diocese of Western Missouri purchased property in a growing area south of Kansas City, with a house on the property that would later become the House of Grace.

Construction in 2009 and we moved into our beautiful new building which was consecrated on July 31, 2010.

Since then, we’ve continued to grow and reach out in service to the world around us.

  • We serve the growing communities of Belton, Raymore, Grandview, Peculiar and south Kansas City, and attract many from the larger Kansas City metro region.
  • We are a vibrant, life-giving community that shares amazing worship, engaging fellowship and meaningful service in the metro and beyond
  • We are a community committed to lifelong growth in the knowledge, service, and love of God as followers of Christ…informed by Scripture, Tradition, and Reason

We invite you to join us on an exciting journey of discovery as we learn to worship, serve and follow Jesus in our daily lives.

Episcopal? What is that?

The Episcopal Church is rooted in the ancient and apostolic tradition of the Christian faith. At its heart is the worship of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Following Jesus—his life, teachings, death, and resurrection—is the foundation of all we do and believe.

As part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, The Episcopal Church stands in continuity with the earliest followers of Jesus. The faith has been handed down through generations, like a sacred trust—a kind of spiritual “bucket brigade”—passing along the living water of the Gospel from one age to the next. Each generation receives, embodies, and transmits the faith through worship, teaching, sacraments, and daily life.

The Church has always found that God is most fully known through the reading and proclamation of Holy Scripture, through baptism—the sacrament of new birth—and through the Holy Eucharist, where we are nourished by Christ’s Body and Blood. These practices, grounded in Scripture and tradition, form the core of our life together.

The Episcopal Church is a member of the Anglican Communion, a global fellowship of churches that share a common heritage with the Church of England. In the United States, The Episcopal Church carries forward this tradition, shaped both by the English Reformation and by the unique history of the American nation.

Our identity is not self-invented. It is received—from the apostles, through the early Church, through centuries of faithful Christians, and now entrusted to us. This sacred tradition reminds us that our faith is not a private possession, but a gift—handed down, preserved, and passed on by the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Photo by Scott Laurent

Who Was Saint Mary Magdalene?

Mary of Magdala, a town near Capernaum, was one of several women who followed Jesus and ministered to Him during His ministry in Galilee. The Gospel according to Luke tells us that Jesus “went on through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out” (Luke 8:1–2).

The Gospels testify that Mary was healed by Jesus, became His follower, and remained with Him even at the foot of the cross at Calvary. Her life was clearly and radically transformed by Jesus’ healing touch.

Mary’s ministry of devoted service and faithful companionship—especially her presence at the crucifixion—has stood through the centuries as a powerful witness to the role of women in the life and mission of Christ. All four Gospels name her among the women who went to the tomb to mourn and to care for Jesus’ body. Her weeping over the loss of her Lord resonates deeply with the grief all people feel at the death of a loved one.

In a moment of tender grace, Jesus meets her in the garden, reveals Himself to her by speaking her name, and makes her the first witness to His resurrection. He commissions her with the words, “Go to my brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). Mary then goes and tells the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18).

In the tradition of the Church, Mary Magdalene is honored as “equal to the apostles” and “apostle to the apostles”—the first to proclaim the good news of the risen Christ.

–Adapted from Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2024

Growing Our Church for God’s Work

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